Silvertip Mountain A home built of stone.

Soon, she would return to the Creek's confines and resume her feigned duties until the time was right. The night of the Moth Offering, she thought, but there was no telling when the unpredictable Kesuk might raise her flags and summon her secret followers here. When the time was right.

For now, she prepared herself for another day of exploration before she would return home. She slunk along the mountain's lower reaches, on a bare ridge where trees had not taken hold. From here, she could see clear across the Flatlands to Blacktail Deer Plateau, though the distance made it impossible to see what was going on there. This ridge, she decided, would make a wonderful place to station an Outrider to keep an eye on outsiders who thought to come near. Ever had Jinx been unlike other wolves in this area. She was born a Kesuk, a wolf of Shearwater Bay, and those savages had never suffered fools coming near their lands.

Nor would she. But she was not yet queen of the mountain, and so when she spotted a silver-dusted wolf approaching, she could not chase him off with bared teeth. This became doubly obvious to her as she swiftly descended, intending to entice another loner to her group, only to discover it was Njal. What the fuck, she wondered, irritated by his presence. First Fox had followed her here, and now the brutish Gamma as well? Never had those wolves shown any inclination to leave the Creek, and yet the minute Jinx left for any amount of time, they stalked after her like wildcats on the hunt.

Huffing softly, the female went to him anyway, armed with the same lie she had presented to Fox in hopes he would buy it and not question her. "Njal," she rumbled in greeting, her tail waving at ease behind her if only because she considered herself his superior in all things (whether or not that was true). "What brings you out here? I have not yet finished my survey of this place, but I should have a sizeable report on it when I return."